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Friday, February 16, 2018

I think Marcella Hawley is upping her artistic game. Truly! She has always brought us such beautiful and whimsical creations for card making, but WOW, it seems she’s taking it to a whole other level lately. Today’s amazing illustration is brand new from Power Poppy, a stunning digital image called Heart Abloom, part of her Color Stories series this year. Just look at the beauty!

Here’s how Marcy described all the details: A tapestry of spring flowers fill a large, lush heart shape in this Color Story adventure! The flowers for this heart were expressly chosen to celebrate yellows, greens, blues, and purples. We have Daffodils and Narcissus, a myriad of single and double Hellebores, Trout Lilies, and then the surprise guest: Blueberries!

It was an outright joy to colour this one up in a very spring-like palette. I happen to really love hellebore - or lenten roses, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. They are so delicate, but also so varied in the colours they come in. I used a pretty cohesive palette focussing on deep pinks and purples, with the pop of yellow in the narcissus. I’ve mentioned before this combo really works because the yellow and purple are complementary colours.

I decided to trim the whole heart out with a wee border and place it on a intricate oval die which I covered in glitter. It helps create the feeling of a victorian Valentine. To soften the yellow cardstock, I added a layer of embossed vellum behind the heart. Check out those gorgeous blueberries nestled in there...and then that sweet little snail!

The image comes with the center banner blank, and with the word hello in it. I chose the blank one and then added the word hope in bounce lettering, which I’m practising more of. I wouldn’t say my lettering is super successful because of the curve of the banner - that was a bit harder to letter in a way that made the proportions look right, but I still love the word hope embedded into all these spring flowers. It gives in an Eastery feel.

I used a crazy amount of Copics, 34 I believe, so I took two photos of them.

For more beautiful inspiration today, be sure to visit the rest of the Bloom Brigade playing along, and for more of Heart Abloom, check out the Instant Gardeners Team from Power Poppy, they’ve done some beautiful work with the images from this set!

Monday, February 12, 2018

Funny story. When my husband was small he came home from school one day and because his mom was at work, he decided to help himself to a snack. That day, he decided to eat a whole double pack of Kraft Singles. In. One. Sitting. Gross! Nevermind that it’s not really CHEESE and is probably one chemical away from plastic. Needless to say, it made him totally sick and he’s been repulsed by cheese ever since. I find this to be a complete shame since I’m pretty sure I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like.

Guess what, this will be his Valentine! I love the punny element to it and it’s even more funny given his dis-taste for Cheese. As soon as I saw this illustration from Marcy I knew it had to be for my beloved! It’s another one from the Power Poppy Va-Va-Valentine’s Collection.

Cheddar is a personal favourite of mine, so it’s leaning heavily on orange and some fun silver elements like the heart grate (how fun is that), and the touches of metallic paper.

I used a polka-dotted embossing folder inverted so the dots went in, like the holes in the cheese, and then added washi tape, hearts and some silver sequins. A sweep of light BG11 ink over the sentiment gives it a little bit of extra pop and contrast.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

How I love Marcy’s new Va-Va-Valentine’s! They are the perfect combination of cute, punny and beautiful illustration. I have really enjoyed making cards with them. And at $6 for the entire set, they are a steal of a deal! Today I’m bringing you the Rockin’ Blooms with a fun colour palette. Navy and pink are great together....and then I’ve added just a wee pop of turquoise and silver.

I played a little with the dies to layer them in a way that showcased the designer paper. The inset of the scalloped rectangle has two parts that you can use together or separtely. To show the diagonal lines underneath the pink I trimmed the inner layer just a wee bit so you can see the stripes showing through. Then I layered the navy circle between the frame to give it a bit of interest.

A sparkly bow and some sparkly glitter pen accent different parts of the colouring.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the card I’m giving to my sweetie....it’s a fun one with a fun story!

Friday, February 9, 2018

It’s the season of love! Well, hopefully every season is a season of love if we’re doing it right :), but as we head toward Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d show you a card and a pretty pillow box I created with a couple of sets from Power Poppy.

For the gift box design I used My English Rose Stamp Set and then for the card I used Graceful Still Life Digital both from Power Poppy. You’ve just got to love the beauty of a rich red rose. I’ve paired it with a pretty shade of blue to give it some contrast.

For the main image on the card I printed the digital in a lighter gray so that it would have some softness and then added the colouring with some Copics. In the background I stamped the larger rose from My English Rose in red so you get just a peek of it.

For the pillow box I used a Silhouette file and my Silhouette Cameo to cut out blue cardstock in the shape of the pillow box. I like using the Cameo for this type of thing because it cuts tiny lines where your folding should be and it makes it really easy to fold. Before putting the box together I stamped the rose from the set in white craft ink over the left side of the box.

Next I created a tag with the rose from the set and just coloured in the petals and the background, adding a few Nuvo iridescent dots for a bit of sparkle, and then a pretty red satin ribbon and a bit of blue twine.

Ready for Valentine gift giving!

Have you played along yet in our Power & Spark challenge for February? It’s all about love and sparkle! We'd love to see what you can make with either a Love theme or a Sparkle theme or combine them into a card that shows off BOTH! Play along and you could win a $50 shopping spree at Power Poppy!

For more lovey inspiration today, be sure to pop by the rest of the Power Poppy Bloom Brigade playing along.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

I love playing with colour. It is probably one of my favourite aspects of cardmaking outside of the actual colouring. When you see a beautiful pulled together bouquet like this my first question is always - what colours should I use? I usually like to be quite realistic when I’m colouring, so I’ll often look up the types of flowers in a stamp set and and go from there. But with this bouquet from Power Poppy called Pure Prairie Spirit, I wanted to create something a little more cohesive, where it feels like all the pieces work well together, even though all the flowers are unique.

I knew I wanted the Coneflower to be yellow and the asters a blue shade. Because yellow and blue are both primary colours they work well together. With the yellow coneflower being the largest element in the bouquet I knew your eye would go to that immediately, and I wanted some other colours to help balance out the bright yellow. Opposite of yellow on the colour wheel is it’s complementary colour purple, so I used some purple in the other flowers, and also added some purple tones into the blues. This all helps to pull the bouquet together and make it look like it fits together. Placed on a dark navy panel, it really helps the flowers pop.

Here you can see more closely where I’ve added parts of one colour into other pieces of the bouquet which also helps tie it together.

Inside the card I added the butterfly from the set, and a different sentiment from Verve called Scripture Medley 2, that I used the other day on another card. I must love it!

Monday, February 5, 2018

Last week I showed you a pair of cards I created with The Cat’s Pajamas set - Sketchy Flowers. I mentioned that I was able to make 4 cards out of the stamping, so I’m back today to show you a CAS pair made with parts from the first cards.

When I stamped the first pair, I cut an inset frame out of the stamping using MFT’s Dienamics - Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle. By cutting out that inset frame and allowing the under layer to show through, I had two tiny stamped scalloped frames left for another pair of cards. I decided on a really Clean and Simple design using lots of white.

I pulled out my Scor Board and my Scor Bug rotary tool to create a diagonal pattern on both cards, one using the bumps inverted, and one using the bumps out.

Here’s the design showing the bumps out, so it almost looks like raised stitching. The Bible verse is fromVerve Scripture Medley 2.

And here is the design that has the bumps inverted. It almost looks like piercing on the design.

To accent both of the cards I added one stamped sunflower and leaves and a few brown enamel dots to anchor the design.

About Me

I love to colour, create and capture those little bits of beauty in my world, it is part of who God has made me to be. What I share here with you is an expression of who I am and it has given me opportunities I would have never dreamed of, which I am so grateful for.
In the rest of my life, I am a wife of 23 years to an amazing man who loves me for me, and Mom to three children; one in Junior High school, one who just completed High School, and one in University.
So blessed to share part of the journey with you.

While I have been compensated by these companies, I maintain the freedom as an independent designer to say what I truly think of their products. I will not recommend something that I don't personally use and enjoy.